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So far.. the closest to "romance" Yuuichi has been with anyone is:
1) a movie date with Ayu
2) the dance with Mai
3) His banter with Shiori
possibly a few others... most of his actions having been about *caring* about others. The term "suki" is even more overloaded a term as "love" is in english. Though I"m a Mai fan, I can't really call his shout in the hall a confession of any sort... more like an expression that others care about her.

(more later, dinner prep intervenes)

Well, it's all subtle stuff that's building it up imo.

The movie date alone was good for hints as to what he was expecting in the theater. And with Ayu after the date it was "I really had a good time." on the following day. Guys don't normally treat girls to anything imo. So far, he was buying stuff for the girls for a specific reason.

Ayu to get her out of trouble for shoplifting.
Makoto to pacify her and to make her last wish come true.
Nayuki to pacify her.
Mai to help her to eat at night.

Ayu has gotten stuff from Yuichi without a direct reason in this ep. Then there was the banter in the hallway entrance during ep. 12.

Just to clarify, I'm not objecting to the romance (one of the reasons I like anime)... just noting that it is a complement to the story rather than the focus. I'm completely fine with with a replay of the 2002 ending or any number of other possiblities as long as they connect the dots in a way that one can believe Yuuichi would make those choices.

Well, a lot has happened and I've reviewed and reviewed the episodes from 11 onwards.

Regarding the current discussion going on here, I don't get the feel that Yuuichi is pursuing romance the way Kitagawa is. Rather, he's not in a rush to get his first kiss. He seems to enjoy the company of women, but then that's how he was brought up, you know? He has a female cousin that goes back a long time and Ayu who he spends time with in the afternoon and even muttered up thousands of yen to get a gift for her. That's probably where it originated. So it's nothing abnormal (to him) to always be around the presence of women. But he certainly isn't trying to seduce them. How far he'll consider taking it to the next level will depend on the scenarios he goes through. And it's equally possible that the girls will encourage it in some way or another as well (Ayu in episode 12 as an example).

Regarding episode 13 itself, I honestly believed that the pacing of the story went too fast at times. The council seemed all too quick to believe Kitagawa's story. Although a lot of time may have passed between the meeting and afterward when we saw the episode title screen, I didn't think the time transitioned was enough. I felt that the producers should've spent more time discussing Mai's situation. Another moment was the transition between the first night Yuuichi decided to help Mai combat the demons and the next morning. Yuuichi was furious with Mai's apathy to the situation. And suddenly, we're delivered a slew of Nayuki's comedy. I don't mind the comedy. I just think the mood changed a little too fast. I wasn't that quick to start laughing; I was still feeling the effects of Yuuichi's anger.

The pacing in general was just quicker than my mood. I would imagine that after the fiasco at the ball, students everywhere would be talking about it. But no, they seem to be merrily on their way. They would probably talk about Mai behind her back (which would be a nice scene to see how Yuuichi and/or Sayuri would respond). Simply put, episode 13 went full speed ahead without spending enough time dealing with the reprocussions of the previous episode.

Possible Continuity Error: We were given a flashback of Mai and Sayuri and how they met. In that flashback, the two were wearing blue ribbons, but it was announced that they were first-years. Shouldn't they be wearing green ribbons instead? This could be offset if students wear the same color indicator throughout their high school careers and not switching it yearly as I thought they did. I'm not that knowledgable on Japanese culture, so if anybody can fill me in on this, I'd appreciate it.

I've already stated my thoughts on the art. Well done, but the Yuuichi now doesn't quite look like the Yuuichi 12 episodes then. The cliffhanger we're left with this episode is that the demons weren't targetting Mai at all. But if that's true, what was Mai fighting at the end of episode 3? If it was a demon, they were a day early!

Elsewhere someone is speculating (based on game material) that classes are assigned colors based on their graduating year so one would keep the same color til graduation. No idea if that is something some schools do or not though.

Possible Continuity Error: We were given a flashback of Mai and Sayuri and how they met. In that flashback, the two were wearing blue ribbons, but it was announced that they were first-years. Shouldn't they be wearing green ribbons instead? This could be offset if students wear the same color indicator throughout their high school careers and not switching it yearly as I thought they did. I'm not that knowledgable on Japanese culture, so if anybody can fill me in on this, I'd appreciate it.

It's actually discussed throughout this thread. Please refer to the following posts:

IMO, Kuze made himself an ass again by playing the 'bad politician' faultlessly, complimented by his refusal to listen to the explanations of Yuuichi and Sayuri (never mind how the other members might find them making a good point about the window breaking) and his hasty departure from the three of them when Mai 'threatened' him. Well, he's a student after all, so I never expected much out of backstabbing so early yet.

Kitagawa playing the part of a good friend got my attention there too. He suddenly came to be of importance when you least expect a minor character like him to, which was quite the surprise. They could have showed the reactions as to how the council reacted, though, just to make things a little clearer.

It is somewhat strange that the school isn't abuzz with the news of what happened at the dance festival. You would have thought there could have been at least a few students placed along the corridors just to make sure that the incident was noted by the population, and is not just a problem of Yuuichi, Mai, Sayuri and the student council. As much as the concentration should be on Mai (since it's her arc), it just felt weird something like that was left out.

Mai's being ever so curious again, having settled for ambiguous answers about Ayu and about herself when Yuuichi asked her about the both of them. Makes me think even more that she's somehow connected to Yuuichi in the past and actually knew the reasons behind the stranger happenings, like Makoto's condition from before.

Points for the bucket and the fire extinguisher, or should it be the 'Dog' and the 'Boar'? It was pretty funny in a way, and methinks it's one of the ways Mai shows her concern for someone she cares for. Deciding not to tell Sayuri what she was doing in school late at night and deciding to show an indifference to Yuuichi's efforts to help her in his own way seemed like the same kind of care shown. In the end, of course, she couldn't stop (or rather did nothing to stop) Yuuichi from coming to help her and received the revelation that Yuuichi was on the demons' target board, which might serve to tell a clearer truth about Yuuichi's connection with Mai or the latter's connection with the demons.

Yuuichi's bravado at wanting to help Mai earned more points, even though all he did was to be served up as sauteed Aizawa on the platter for them otherworldly beings. At least there was no show of a half-baked attempt at making him suddenly good in kendo. His comments about Mai, though, really can make some viewers misunderstand the what he feels about her, but as far as it goes, he shows great care for Mai mostly as a good friend.

Well, the preview looks somewhat foreboding, but apparently Mai seems more open to displays of emotion, however slight as the arc goes on. I really hope nothing bad happens to Sayuri...

As far as it goes, Mai's arc might actually look to be the most eventful and exciting one for me, though I've only seen Makoto's arc. Must be the action and the fact I played favorites, I guess.

Thinking back on this episode again, I came to realise that while questioning the believability of fire-extinguisher throwing, we failed to realise something else.

Mai is INSANE to hurl such things at Yuuichi. I have been hit by a junior before when he got over-enthusiastic and hurled my schoolbag at my head. I bled like there was no tomorrow, and I can only begin to imagine what being hit by a fire-extinguisher must be like.

So in short, Mai is batshit loco to do such a thing. Gawd... that's hot. Can we have her hurling vehicles at Yuuichi next? I like my psycho-moe.

Additionally, this lends credence to my ( not so?) silly theory that Yuuichi has a fetish for S&M. Come on, think about it. Mai attempts to smash his face with hard objects, and on the same night, Yuuichi is screeching at her on how much he loves being with her.

Yeah man, he loves being with girls that hurt him.

Shiori attempted to drug him, and scored a date.

Ayu failed to hurt him recently, so he punished her by dragging her to the school at night to scare her. That will teach her to be nice to him!

Nayuki? Who's Nayuki?

So yeah. When it finally comes to Shiori's arc, I won't bat an eyelid if we end up seeing her stabbing Yuuichi with boxcutters and Yuuichi will be like moaning, "Oh Shiori! Stab me! Stab me some more! Oh~ Oh!"

I've finally settled on an 8 for this episode...there was a lot that I liked about it, but the pacing just felt wrong, like most things were a little too rushed. So there was a major catastrophe at the dance festival? No worries, it's quickly swept under the rug by two guys crashing the student council meeting. Yuuichi's furious with Mai? Nevermind, here, look at sleepy faced Nayuki instead. Oh, and while we're at it, let's cut between Nayuki and Piro for absolutely no reason other than to show not one but TWO cute things in the morning.

With that said, when it slowed down and took its time with something, it presented it very well. I really liked Shiori's scene, and the use of the piano arrangement of Pure Snows was a nice touch. (I'm still trying to decide if that was just an edit of the version on the Kanon / AIR piano arrangements album, or a new recording based on that arrangement...either way, I think it was the perfect choice of music for the scene.) The cut to Kaori watching from the stairwell window really brought home the distance between the two, and Sayuri and Mai passing behind her on their way upstairs made for a very effective transition into the lunch scene. Yuuichi and Sayuri's shopping was also well done, and of course Sayuri + giant anteater = too cute for words.

Hey...even if we all argue about the fire extinguishers, arent a lot made nowadays, which are smaller and not made of metal..they usually look like bug sprays...maybe Mai used that....or maybe it was an old used up container..since she hurled it at him out of nowhere...

So yeah. When it finally comes to Shiori's arc, I won't bat an eyelid if we end up seeing her stabbing Yuuichi with boxcutters and Yuuichi will be like moaning, "Oh Shiori! Stab me! Stab me some more! Oh~ Oh!"

fire extinguisher == one of the few slapstick comedy bits in Kanon (Ayu face-hugging the tree being one of the few others, perhaps a bit of Makoto's amazing gecko skills). I actually don't mind slapstick when its used for effect rather than as a running gag ("pow! to the Moon, Keitaro!!!") ... so unfunny that way. Kanon uses slapstick quite minimally and effectively

Yuuichi's eyes were closed for approximately four seconds. Mai had four seconds to pick up an extinguisher and run behind him to roughly 12-15 meters away. Humanly impossible given that there's no extinguisher in the scene to begin with, but was funny the first time around. heh Then again, she probably had the extinguisher up her sleeve or something. It's anime, for crying out loud. = P

^ lol yea...but there could be one behind the door ~ still knowing mai she probably did prepare on just for the occasion ~ funny this is that when the bucket it yuuichi straight on the face he didnt even feel any dizziness or at least a nose bleed O.o his head must be made from rocks